It is not really what you expect

America

It has this effect

I couldn’t describe it

But Joan Didion did, describing New York

And so did Derek Walcott, with Old Eddie’s twinkling eyes

But neither of them captured the spirit of America

It is not barbecue and fireworks

That’s just a dream.

The spirit of America is

Unsightly

Morose

Uneducated

In the prison it created for itself.

Some paint a nice picture,

But they can’t see beyond the frame

Of their own environment

Otherwise things would be better.

People are disappearing

No one’s mind is clearing

From the fog of the election cycle.

Our nightmare has become our reality.

Lack of water

Earth’s getting hotter

Can’t find our kids or a job

Now we might live with lots more smog

Thanks to the “spirit of America”

Now a ghost

Lost the sense of what it was

When it was born.